The familiar face of Joe Gaddis will return to the Oak Ridge High School football sideline this fall.

“I am thrilled to be coming back,” Gaddis said Monday. “I was thrilled in 1988 to be the football coach there. Having done it once, I’m absolutely floored to be able to do it a second time.”

The Wildcats winningest coach is marching “home” after getting the orders from two ironic sources — Robert Smallridge, the superintendent the last time Gaddis was hired to take the helm of the Wildcats, and athletic director Mike Mullins, a former member of Gaddis’ football staff.

“In my interview and talks with him, I see pretty much the same Joe Gaddis that I saw in 1988,” said Smallridge, who retired as school superintendent but is also now back again — serving the school system as interim school superintendent. “He is very enthusiastic and I think he will do a super job again. I don’t see any diminution of his intensity.”

He will be introduced in an informal meet-and-greet reception at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Wildcat Arena. The public is invited.

Gaddis was 119-24 as coach of the Wildcats from 1988 to 1998 and had 10 playoff appearances in 11 seasons. In those seasons, Oak Ridge won 10 or more games nine times and won the Class AAA state championship 30-0 over Gallatin at Vanderbilt University in 1991.

“I truly believe it is the best high school football job in Tennessee,” Gaddis said. “I know there are some schools in East Tennessee that have had great, great runs in the last 10-15 years. But Oak Ridge has the best football tradition in Tennessee. It’s the only school that has won state championships in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and they were eight points away from winning one back in 2005 — and this decade isn’t up yet.”

Mullins delivered the news to the team today during their winter workouts in much the same way he broke the news to the team a month and a half ago that Scott Blade had resigned to take the coaching position at Independence High School. Blade took the Thompson Station job to be closer to family.

“The last time we met was Jan. 17,” Mullins said of the Oak Ridge football team members. “I made them a promise that we would get the very best football coach in the state.

“During the search process, it was our goal to find somebody who could embrace and carry on the storied tradition of Oak Ridge football. Joe Gaddis is the embodiment of everything we were looking for in a head coach. He has a proven record of state championship success at Oak Ridge as a head coach. His energy, passion and charisma is going to motivate our student athletes, alumni, faculty and community.”

Page 2 of 2 - Mullins said it has been an “unbelievable whirlwind,” but was glad to have his friend and colleague on the sideline again.

“He is the reason I’m here,” Mullins said.

Mullins said he and the coach search committee received 119 résumés from 30 states — well exceeding the amount of interest generated when Blade was hired in 2009. Back in January, Mullins credited Blade and the current team for that interest after finishing 10-2 and claiming the first district title since 2005.

The 60-year-old Gaddis was presumably the head-on favorite after Blade’s departure. Almost instantly a grassroots effort by the community sprang up to bring the former Wildcat great back. A Facebook group “Ridgers for Joe Gaddis,” with 1,415 members as of Monday afternoon, along with a flood of letters and emails to the school system administration.

“This has been unbelievable,” Mullins said. “We received a record amount of input from the community.”

Mullins said the biggest things expressed in those letters were already among the things on his list for the next football coach — a person who can increase player, fan and community participation, as well as renewed energy and enthusiasm to keep Oak Ridge on the up-and-up as they move to Class 5A this fall.

Since Gaddis’ departure, the coach has been at the helm of Pascagoula High School in Mississippi, Austin High School in Decatur, Ala., Henry County High School in Paris, Tenn., Lexington High School in North Carolina, and most recently, at Peabody High School in Trenton, Tenn.

At Henry County, he coached the Patriots to three straight Class 4A semi-final games. In his one season at Peabody, the Golden Tide went 9-4, 6-0 in District 14-A, and won their first district title since 1992.

“I’m going to coach for a while,” said Gaddis when asked about his energy level for the game. “I have more energy than most 30 year olds. I coached for 11 years here. My plan is to out do that. I’m not ever leaving Oak Ridge. I’m there to stay.”

Gaddis’ current head coaching record is 258-112 (69.7 percent) in 30 years. He has two grown children, a son, Joe Jr., who currently lives in South Carolina, and a daughter, Carry, who lives in Nashville.